I found that when I kicked the graphics up to medium instead of low, the whole area got a lot brighter. I was having darkness issues too.Sukurachi wrote:are the areas after the opening any "brighter"? I only got to get to the first "boss fight" of the free trial version last month. At that level, and in that trial version, there was nowhere else to go. At least, none that I could find. I found the entire starting zone too dark (it reminded me of Tirisfal Glades.. a starter zone I absolutely detest, and one of the reasons I have not a single Undead character).
Who knows, maybe I'll get Rift next year.
And it depends on if you're guardian or defiant. I namely play defiant and haven't gotten very far in the guardian side. From what I've seen, the guardian side is a lot more foresty, so at lower graphics settings it'll look really dark (plus Rift swaps between day and night like WoW and certain rifts make the areas dark). The defiant side is a lot more open and seems to be less dark looking.